Press Release - March 29, 2017

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Silicon Valley Community Foundation has named Stuart Burden as vice president of corporate responsibility, and Michael Chertok as vice president of donor experience and engagement, the organization announced today.

Burden is responsible for leading the strategic direction for SVCF’s work with a growing list of more than 100 corporate clients, including advising them on corporate social responsibility strategies, goals and philanthropic programs. Burden will direct a staff of more than 15 professionals. He replaces Maeve Miccio in the role, who earlier this month became SVCF’s vice president of strategic partnerships, eastern region.

Chertok is responsible for leading SVCF’s team of philanthropy advisors, who work with more than 2,000 donors to help them achieve their charitable goals. In his role, he will oversee SVCF’s initiatives to expand donors’ opportunities to learn and grow as philanthropists. Chertok replaces Misti Sangani, who was promoted in 2016 to chief donor experience and engagement officer at SVCF.

“Stuart and Michael come to SVCF with a common commitment to expanding opportunities for individuals, families and companies to effect positive change in the world,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO and president of SVCF. “We are thrilled that these two experienced, highly regarded philanthropy professionals will be helping guide SVCF to even greater philanthropic impact as we head into our second decade.” SVCF is celebrating its 10th anniversary throughout 2017.

Before joining SVCF, Stuart Burden was a philanthropy consultant focused on program design, organizational effectiveness and strategic communications. His clients included large not-for-profit organizations, such as Planned Parenthood of America, as well as numerous private foundations. Prior to his work as a consultant, Burden directed grantmaking for the Levi Strauss Foundation and Levi Strauss & Co.

He also spent 11 years at the MacArthur Foundation, where he managed grant portfolios focused on protecting reproductive health and rights in Brazil and Mexico and improving higher education in Africa. Burden also worked on special projects at the Ford Foundation, including the design and launch of Ford’s initial HIV/AIDS grants program.

Originally from Colorado and now a San Francisco resident, Burden earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Michael Chertok comes to SVCF from Digital Divide Data, which he co-founded and where he also has served as board chair and as chief development officer. DDD provides transitional employment in the tech sector for youth from poor families in Southeast Asia and East Africa, as well as for veterans and military spouses in the United States.

Previously, Chertok was a program officer for global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he focused on bringing public Internet access to rural areas of Vietnam. He also co-founded Global Catalyst Foundation, the philanthropy vehicle of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Chertok holds a bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies from Yale University and an MBA and a Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He currently serves as president of Sha’ar Zahav, a Jewish congregation in San Francisco.

Both executives began their new roles March 27.

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About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation advances innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems. As the largest community foundation in the world, we engage donors and corporations from Silicon Valley, across the country and around the globe to make our region and world better for all. Our passion for helping people and organizations achieve their philanthropic dreams has created a global philanthropic enterprise committed to the belief that possibilities start here. Learn more at siliconvalleycf.org.